The last 2 days

The last 2 days in Beijing were the most memorable. We visited the Forbidden City again (see the post below), and afterward our taxi driver got a ticket on the way to Silk Market, where I stocked up on Chinese Transformers and other cheap souvenirs for the kids:

We went to Top Electronics City, an amazing electronics mart that one of our partners in Beijing owns. You can get any kind of electronics in the hectic building, and everything is negotiable:

Here's a Beijing parking lot for bikes. How does a person ever find his or her bike again once it's parked? Beijing was designed and built before many people had cars, so there are few places on the street to park actual cars--although drivers manage to park them on the streets anyway.

Our last night in Beijing was spent in the countryside at the amazing home of the former teacher to Mao's grandson. In addition to being a powerful property developer, she is a member of the People's Congress and is friends to many powerful people in China. After we left her home, the newly appointed vice president of China was coming to stay at the home with his family for a month. The home has about 10 bedrooms, an indoor pool, theater, and karoke room. Here's the view from the park in her backyard:

At her home we noticed a calligraphy set and some doodlings on a table (see below), so we asked if they were hers. It turns out they are the doodlings of her very good friend, M. L. Han, the "Chinese Picasso". He spent the Cultural Revolution in prison where the government severed the tendons in his wrists to prevent him from ever doing calligraphy again. When he got out he had surgery to reattach the tendons and now does semi-controversial art that criticizes the government.

On the final day of our trip, our friend sent us to the Great Wall of China in her chauffered van conversion. Here's dad testing out the massage chair en route:

The Great Wall of China is a place I never thought I'd visit. Notice the blue sky--it's the only time we saw the sky during the entire trip:

Have you ever seen those t-shirts that say "I'm huge in Japan?" A couple of different groups asked to take a picture with me on the Great Wall. Uh, okay.

Chinese graffiti on the Great Wall:

On the way to the airport we visited one more restaurant. At this one, instead of ordering from a menu, patrons select what they want to eat directly from the aquarium tanks.

Snake tea, anyone?

We encountered many opportunities in China. There is so much to do! As I've written repeatedly, things are changing there so quickly. One of our colleagues in China, Tao Min, grew up hoping that one day he'd have a job that allowed him to earn enough money to buy a bicycle and have enough food to eat. He says that if someone had told him when he was a teenager that he would one day own a car (a chauffered Audi A6 at that), he never would have believed it. People who are against globalization need to talk to Tao Min. It's exciting to see the change and the opportunities that people in China now have access to.

After more than a week of travel and 25 hours of airports and airplanes during the return to Indy, it's nice to be home. Sophie didn't remember me at first, but she quickly caught on.

I am looking forward to heading back to China soon to follow up on all of the work we need to do.